Street dance in the context of "House dance"

Breakdancing or breaking, also called b-boying (when performed by men) or b-girling (women), is a style of street dance originated by African Americans and Puerto Ricans in The Bronx borough of New York City.

Breakdancing consists mainly of four kinds of movement—toprock, footwork, power moves, and freezes—and is typically set to songs containing drum breaks, especially in funk, soul, and hip-hop. Its modern dance elements originated among the poor youth of New York during the 1970s and early 1980s. It is tied to the birth of hip-hop, whose DJs played songs featuring rhythmic breaks for dancers.

Hip hop dance is a range of street dance styles primarily performed to hip hop music or that have evolved as part of hip hop culture. It is influenced by a wide range of styles that were created in the 1970s and made popular by dance crews in the United States. The television show Soul Train and the 1980s films Breakin', Beat Street, and Wild Style showcased these crews and dance styles in their early stages; therefore, giving hip-hop dance mainstream exposure.

The dance industry responded with a commercial, studio-based version of hip-hop—sometimes called "new style"—and a hip-hop influenced style of jazz dance called "jazz-funk". Classically trained dancers developed these studio styles in order to create choreography from the hip-hop dances that were performed on the street. Because of this development, hip-hop dance is practiced in both dance studios and outdoor spaces.

Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is widely regarded as one of the most culturally significant figures of the 20th century. Over a four-decade career, his musical achievements broke American racial barriers and made him a dominant figure worldwide. Through his songs, stages, and fashion, he proliferated visual performance for artists in popular music, popularizing street dance moves such as the moonwalk, the robot, and the anti-gravity lean. Jackson is often deemed the greatest entertainer of all time.

The eighth child of the Jackson family, Michael made his public debut at age six as the lead singer of the Jackson 5, one of Motown's most successful acts. His breakthrough as a solo artist came with the highly acclaimed album Off the Wall (1979). Jackson achieved unprecedented global success with Thriller (1982), the best-selling album in history. Its short film-style music videos for "Thriller", "Beat It", and "Billie Jean" redefined the medium as an art form. Jackson followed it with Bad (1987), the first album to produce five US Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles: "I Just Can't Stop Loving You", "Bad", "The Way You Make Me Feel", "Man in the Mirror", and "Dirty Diana". In the 1990s, he released the albums Dangerous (1991) and HIStory (1995). His final album, Invincible (2001), became a 21st-century bestseller.

Popping is a street dance adapted out of the earlier boogaloo cultural movement in Oakland, California. As boogaloo spread, it would be referred to as "robottin'" in Richmond, California; strutting movements in San Francisco and San Jose; and the Strikin' dances of the Oak Park community in Sacramento, which were popular through the mid-1960s to the 1970s.

Popping would be eventually adapted from earlier boogaloo (freestyle dance) movements in Fresno, California, in the late 1970s by way of California high school gatherings at the West Coast Relays track meets. The dance is rooted in the rhythms of live funk music, and is based on the technique of boogaloo's posing approach, quickly contracting and relaxing muscles to cause a jerk, or can be a sudden stop in the dancer's body, referred to as a "pose", "pop" or a "hit". This is done continuously to the rhythm of a song, in combination with various movements and poses.

Waacking (also whacking) is a street dance style with origins stemming from punking, a dance created in the gay clubs of Los Angeles during the 1970s disco era. The style is typically done to 1970s disco and 1980s post-disco music and is mainly distinguishable by its rotational arm movements, posing and emphasis on expressiveness.

Liquid and digits is a type of gestural, interpretive, rave and urban street dance that sometimes involve aspects of pantomime. The term invokes the word liquid to describe the fluid-like motion of the dancer's body and appendages and digits to refer to illusions constructed with the dancer's fingers. Liquid dancing has many moves in common with popping and waving. ("Waving" is a style of dance where the dancer tries to make it appear that waves are rolling through their body.) The exact origins of the dances are uncertain, although they came out of either popping, raves, or both sometime from the 1970s to 1990s. The dance is typically done to a variety of electronic dance music genres from trance to drum and bass to glitch hop, depending on the dancer's musical taste.

The robot, also called mannequin or dancing machine, is a street dance style—often confused with popping—that suggests the stilted movements of a dancing robot or mannequin. Roboting gained fame in the 1970s after Michael Jackson used the dance when he performed "Dancing Machine" with his brothers.

Breakdancing or breaking, also called b-boying (when performed by men) or b-girling (women), is a style of street dance developed by African Americans and Puerto Ricans in The Bronx borough of New York City.

Breakdancing consists mainly of four kinds of movement—toprock, footwork, power moves, and freezes—and is typically set to songs containing drum breaks, especially in funk, soul, and hip-hop. Its modern dance elements originated among the poor youth of New York during the 1970s and early 1980s. It is tied to the birth of hip-hop, whose DJs played songs featuring rhythmic breaks for dancers.